Comparing the Effect of Aromatherapy With Essential Oils of Rosa damascena and Lavender Alone and in Combination on Severity of Pain in the First Phase of Labor in Primiparous Women

Labor pain is an indispensable component of delivery process; however, excessive pain can reduce uterine contractions and delivery progress rate. This study was executed to compare the effect of aromatherapy with Rosa damascena and lavender essential oils on severity of pain in the first phase of delivery in primiparous women. In this clinical trial, 120 primiparous women with a dilatation of 3-4 cm were randomly selected from maternity hospitals of Zahedan and divided into 4 groups: "inhalation of essential oils of R. damascena", "lavender", "their combination", and "distilled water". The participants were asked to inhale the aroma during contraction and the severity of their pain was determined based on the visual scale of pain prior to the intervention and also 30 and 60 minutes after it. The data were analyzed using SPSS, chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated measure covariance analysis, and Bonferroni correction. Comparison of the mean severity of pain in the 4 groups before the intervention showed a significant difference (P = 0.001). Controlling the pre-test effect demonstrated that the essential oil aromas (R. damascena, lavender, and their combination) significantly reduced the mean severity of pain at 30 and 60 minutes after the intervention relative to distilled water (P = 0.001), however, the difference between the three treatment groups was not significant. The results indicated that aromatherapy using essential oils of lavender, R. damascena, and their combination can reduce the severity of labor pain as an uncomplicated non-pharmacological approach.